NatGeo teams up with Great Courses for online photography lessons

National Geographic's photographers have a reputation for being some of the finest the world has to offer. Now the magazine has teamed up some of its photogs with online learning center The Great Courses for a series of video lessons that are planned to span at least a dozen subjects over the course of the next five years.

The arrangement has started with National Geographic Fellow Joel Sartore who has an introductory Fundamentals of Photography (which has been up since at least November 2012), and a series on travel photography. But that's just the start. According to a press release, the next five years will see at least a dozen other courses offered by National Geographic's Masters of Photography, covering "the art of videography, photographer-led video expeditions that explore how to photograph some of the world’s most scenic locales, and on-location lectures on science, culture and exploration."

In the aforemention press release, Lynn Cutter, executive vice president at National Geographic Travel said:

“This partnership allows us to create best-in-class educational materials, starting with photography courses taught by our world-class photographers. Our photographers will have the very best platform to share their one-of-a-kind expertise and further National Geographic’s mission to inspire people to care about the planet.”

While it does seem a little odd to have an extremely skilled professional like Sartore lecturing on basics like shutter speeds, his later lectures on everything from wildlife to ambient light, editing to workflow look very interesting. And the prospect of further National Geographic artists emparting their wisdom seems like it could be an absolutely incredible resource to hear from some of the most famed photographers on the planet.